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?Shou Shou? Sex Tape Made Public Netizens Seek Torrent

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

This is really, really, really popular right now.

From Mop:

China’s #1 female car model Shou Shou sex tape’s truths

“Shou Shou’s” real name is Zhai Ling, born 1987 August, height 177 cm. As a model for the Beijing New Silk Road Modeling Company, she captured people’s attention because of her pretty appearance and tall and thin physique, and won critical acclaim at various large auto shows. At the 2008 Beijing Auto Show, the pretty girl nicknamed “Shou Shou” with her fresh demeanor and devilish body was declared by many netizens as the “#1 car model”.

Comments from Mop:

苍茫月光:

Requesting torrent, requesting images~~~~crazyxk@yahoo.com.cn

﹎浅陌色。:

Fuck./ – - Reporting this exposing that…can people have sex anymore?

匿名人士832862:

I see there are a lot of people requesting torrents~
Shamefully~I also request…bw_wb@sina.com

绝代商标:

overseas08@lushipping.com
A good man has a peaceful life haha.

过桥米线路人甲:

People these days all like to take photos/videos?
The picture – a memory of light treasured by the shadow.
Oh yeah~

Most comments are similar to the above, everyone requesting a torrent link. Here are two topics on KDS that are also mostly people requesting the torrent (both topics have been closed). Here are some more photographs of “Shou Shou” Zhai Ling collected from the above Mop post and another Mop post:

Car models. chinaSMACK personals.

Original Post: ‘Shou Shou’ Sex Tape Made Public, Netizens Seek Torrent

Original Source: chinaSMACK

China Internet Tip: Are you blocked behind the Great-Firewall in China? Cannot reach Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter? Try using Freedur VPN.

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Chinese Internet Memes Dirty Words On Google Translate

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Chinese netizens may have discovered a new Romanization system all thanks to the real-time speech feature in Google Translate. While the text-to-speech feature only dictates in English, Chinese netizens on China’s popular Tianya discussion forum (1 & 2) have apparently discovered ways to make the female voice, aptly named “Google Girl”, recite Chinese by entering phonetic equivalents. Prompted by this discovery, Chinese netizens soon began to input all sorts of Chinese internet memes, catchphrases, dirty words, poems, and other silly nonsense for the “Google Girl” to say. As one can imagine there are plenty of laughs to go around.

Some are difficult to understand but most of the Google Translate links are posted below along with their intended Chinese and English translations of that Chinese:

春哥纯爷们儿，铁血真汉子，人民好兄弟，父亲好儿子。» Google Girl

Spring Brother [Brother Chun] is pure man, blood and iron real man, a good brother of the people, a good son of his father.

莫装b，装b遭雷劈 » Google Girl

Don’t zhuang bi, zhuang bi will be struck by lightning.

吹牛逼 » Google Girl

Blow niu bi [to talk bullshit, boast].

狮子座 » Google Girl

“Leo” [A popular song by Zeng Yike (Brother Zeng)].

欧美AV » Google Girl

European/American AV [adult video, pornography].

哈哈哈哈我操你妈个逼 » Google Girl

Hahahaha I fuck your mother’s cunt.

我操你妈个逼, 你妈个逼, 妈个逼, 个逼, 逼 » Google Girl

Fuck your mother’s cunt, your mother’s cunt, mother’s cunt, cunt

皇上，你还记得大明湖畔的夏雨荷吗? » Google Girl & Another version

My Emperor, do you still remember Xia Yuhe on the bank of Daming Lake? [A line from the popular series "Princess of the Returning Pearl"]

高丽棒子思密达爱吃泡菜思密达 » Google Girl

Kogruyo bangzhi si mi da, love to eat kimchi si mi da.

哥们，姐们，你们太有才啦~~~ » Google Girl

Brothers, Sisters, you are all so talented~

大家一起來818 » Google Girl

Everybody come here and gossip.

打酱油回声版… » Google Girl

Buying soy sauce (echo version).

你无情，你残酷，你无理取闹! » Google Girl

You’re heartless, you’re cruel, you’re making a fuss for no reason!

我哪里无情我哪里残酷我哪里无理取闹？» Google Girl

How am I heartless, how am I cruel, how am I making a fuss for no reason?

静夜思 » Google Girl

“In the Quiet Night” [Tang Dynasty poem by Li Bai].

很标准的楼主没有小JJ » Google Girl & Another version

Lou zhu doesn’t have a JJ.

日本AV » Google Girl & Another version

Japanese AV.

一鸡巴长，一鸡巴短，我爱长鸡巴，哦也哦也哦也, 呀哈哈, 我好下贱。» Google Girl

One dick long, one dick short, I love long dicks, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, yahaha, I’m so lewd.

你妈个逼，你妈个逼，你妈个，你妈个，你妈个逼 » Google Girl

Your mother’s cunt, your mother’s cunt, your mother’s, your mother’s, your mother’s cunt.

曾哥纯爷们，铁血史泰龙。» Google Girl

Brother Zeng is pure man, blood and iron Stallone [Sylvester].

前轱辘转后轱辘不转思密达 » Google Girl

The front wheel turns, the back wheel doesn’t si mi da.

吃葡萄不吐葡萄皮，不吃葡萄倒吐葡萄皮 » Google Girl

Eat grapes without spitting the skin of the grape, not eating grapes spit the skin of the grape [Chinese tongue twister].

“主人，我是你的奴隶，你想怎么XXOO我都行，我好下贱” » Google Girl

Master, I am your slave, you can do me anyway you want, I’m so lewd.

太他妈牛掰了！ » Google Girl

So fucking niu bi !

我受不了了你太有才了！ » Google Girl

I can’t take it anymore, you are so talented!

关我掉事，我是来打酱油的 » Google Girl

It’s none of my business , I’m just here buy soy sauce.

新年好 » Google Girl

Happy New Year.

搂住, 我没有别的意思，这是 [听不懂]，“你这个傻逼” » Google Girl

Lou zhu, I do not have any other meaning, this is [do not understand], “you stupid cunt“.

哥抽的不是寂寞，哥抽的是烟~~ » Google Girl

What brother is smoking is not loneliness, what brother is smoking are cigarettes.

春晓
春眠不觉晓，处处闻啼鸟。
夜来风雨声，花落知多少？» Google Girl

“Morning in Spring” [A poem by Meng Haoran].

我要大j8 » Google Girl

I want big dick.

兰州烧饼 » Google Girl

Lanzhou seed cake

不要迷恋姐，姐是个传说 » Google Girl

Do not have a crush on sister, sister is just a legend.

不要迷恋姐，姐让你吐血 » Google Girl

Do not have a crush on sister, sister will make you spit blood.

很傻很天真 » Google Girl

Very foolish, very naive.

我爱芙蓉姐姐 » Google Girl

I love Furong Jie Jie.

恭喜发财，红包拿来 » Google Girl

I wish you a good fortune, hand over the red envelope.

我有一所房子，面朝大海春暖花开 » Google Girl

I have a house, it faces the sea, it is warm in the spring and flowers blossom.

I made one up off the top of my head. Can you come up with more?

Original Post: Chinese Internet Memes & Dirty Words On Google Translate

Original Source: chinaSMACK

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?Death By A Thousand Cuts? Photos From Late Qing Dynasty

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Warning: These historical photographs are very graphic.

From Tiexue:

Late Qing Dynasty female criminal “Death By A Thousand Cuts” photos

This punishment was for extremely serious crimes. These photos are famous and appear all the time. This is just a recent example.

Comments from Tiexue:

chidun:

If these photographs make you uncomfortable, please forgive me!
This execution is beyond cruel!

sxhzpoiu22:

Wasn’t it said that the person cannot be allowed to die until the very last cut? Why is it that by the middle of the photos, the head was already cut off ??? And also, was it really 3,333 cuts?

接班人:

Aren’t there still 18-year-old female convicts sentenced to death?
I am sad for China’s men, your insult/abuse towards China’s women is the cause of China going bad.

jjy00000:

Fuck! Yet another zhuang bi! As long as that person indeed committed a crime, what does she being a woman or not or how old she is have anything to do with it? Is the law made specifically for men only???

rajk747:

Suggest China reinstate this kind of punishment, specifically against corrupt officials.

江梳公主:

Why are you posting this kind of post! What kind of rubbish are you advocating! Is this fun? Pervert/deviant.

接班人:

Mothers, on the whole, are the wombs and breasts that gave us life, us respecting them is respecting ourselves, which is raising our own positions. When killing women, it is not necessary to have them on their knees or to cut off their reproductive organs, as people who know to cherish mothers are noble.

小兵司南:

Too cruel! Is it necessary for an execution to be this way?

打不赢jiu跑:

Each era does what each era does, unless you guys could ask a primitive man to no longer drink blood and wear fur, sit in a Western restaurant, and immediately pick up a small knife and fork to eat steak? Don’t you understand any historical materialism!

hanbing1110:

A sick/ill society [Qing Dynasty], even if foreigners did not invade, it itself would have slowly died away.

专业民兵001:

I’ve been on Tiexue for two years now and this group of pictures has made me the most angry! Doing this to an old woman, using such a cruel punishment, where is the humanity! Looks like liberation from the Qing Dynasty is Founder Sun’s [Yat-sen] incomparable greatness! I hate feudalism, hate ignorance, and I salute our founder!

RedKnife:

The West doesn’t have torture? Kao!

woshimingming:

Humans are the most cruel animals, also the most savage animals, also the most fragile animals.

chidun:

No matter whether the photographs are posted or not, this kind of torture indeed existed in our country’s history. Knowing this is also a good thing.
Actually, it is said that there are death penalties/executions even more cruel than this in the West.
Nowadays, some countries still have torture.

sailor_chin:

It appears that this is not the authentic dismemberment execution. It looks like in that time of decline/decay, even punishments were in decline/decay.
The dismemberment execution I recall requiring 500 cuts, with the very last being a stab into the criminal’s chest before he can die, and if the criminal dies before enough cuts are made, the person cutting will be in trouble.
The punishment are savage, but sometimes it is very effective.

Some photographs of male criminals suffering the same death penalty:

Some English information from Wikipedia:

Slow slicing (simplified Chinese: 凌迟; traditional Chinese: 凌遲; pinyin: língchí, alternately transliterated Ling Chi or Leng T’che), also translated as the slow process, the lingering death, or death by a thousand cuts, was a form of execution used in China from roughly AD 900 until its abolition in 1905. In this form of execution, the condemned person was killed by using a knife to methodically remove portions of the body over an extended period of time. The term língchí derives from a classical description of ascending a mountain slowly.

Lingchi was reserved for crimes viewed as especially severe, such as treason and killing one’s parents. The process involved tying the person to be executed to a wooden frame, usually in a public place. The flesh was then cut from the body in multiple slices in a process that was not specified in detail in Chinese law and therefore most likely varied. In later times, opium was sometimes administered either as an act of mercy or as a way of preventing fainting. The punishment worked on three levels: as a form of public humiliation, as a slow and lingering death, and as a punishment after death.

Original Post: ‘Death By A Thousand Cuts’ Photos From Late Qing Dynasty

Original Source: chinaSMACK

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Han Han Video Of Chongqing Police Subduing A Kidnapper

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Han Han is one of China’s most popular bloggers. As a member of the post-80s generation (Chinese born in the 1980s), he is also famous for being a professional race-car driver and best-selling author.

This video (3:06) is a news story about Chongqing police taking down a man who had kidnapped a local woman and was holding her hostage with a knife.

First, the man demands the police find a reporter and gets very upset, screaming “How much time until he’s here?” Then, he rather suddenly decided he didn’t want a reporter, and instead demanded drinks. The policeman was fairly accommodating, even asking if he should open the drinks for the kidnapper, and a few moments later their opportunity to strike came when the man came to the door to shout, asking for a gun, and many, many police officers jumped on him all at once.

From Han Han’s Blog:

Stepping into the breach as others fall

Today I saw a video of police attacking a criminal. In it there were many interesting points:

The criminal and hostage came to the door of the police station to ask for a gun.
Soon afterward, he demanded a reporter. Very rarely do kidnappers ask for these two kinds of things [guns, reporters] so we can tell the man must have a story.
After the reporter arrived, the criminal said he didn’t need a reporter, this shows he already understood, whatever background story he told would definitely be harmonized, so he faced facts, and asked for…
…two bottles of beverages, here he was forced to implement some advertisements. [refers to recent Chinese netizen criticisms of too many product placement in the 2010 CCTV Spring Festival Gala]
The criminal first gave the woman [he was holding hostage] a drink, and after this, her eyes were very complicated, perhaps the two of them have a story [together].
At the climax, the criminal walked out the door, where police officers were hiding fearlessly. They pounced on him, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight…please let the national statistics department release an estimate of how many men tackled him. This square meter must have had the highest population density in the entire world; all of a sudden the screen was completely full of [policemen's] butts!
Another interesting point came through the camera lens at 2:27, the middle aged man with a yellow stripe around his sweater really got quite close amidst the chaos of things. As soon as this mysterious pangolin jumped in, an onlooker became a person at the center of things. He served honorably.
Another good point: at 2:32 you can see that in the upper left corner the policeman who rushes in is still holding a cigarette in his mouth. He’s really too relaxed [about it].
When they dragged the criminal into the interrogation room, the policemen pulled on his hair, showing their power.

Although the result was gratifying, the process of saving [the woman] is certainly worth discussing. I welcome everyone to keep studying the video.

Later, Han Han added a poll to his post:

You most want to know…

How many police, in total, tackled the man — 4256 votes, 21%
Why the man asked for one reporter and one gun — 10962 votes, 53%
What is the post/position of the guy in the yellow sweater — 3317 votes, 16%
Who is the guy with the cigarette in his mouth — 2159 votes, 10%

Note: There are now over 47,000 votes since this post was translated.

Comments on the video on Sina (not from Han Han’s post):

一叶舟风波里:

Very good, very awesome.

广西柳州网友:

The One Child Policy hasn’t ended well!!

山东网友爱是永恒:

There are too many scoundrels, if more were killed it would be good, they should have shot him on the spot.

北京网友tony:

I think even if he told his background story they wouldn’t report it, they’d only report the heroism of the police.

北京网友santian:

You often see things like this happening in Chongqing, gangsters from the criminal society, it’s very worrying.

DHX212:

The guy is actually pretty handsome, and the girl could be called pretty too.

Better than kidnapping and being piled on by a lot of police officers. chinaSMACK personals.

See the new china/divide blog by C. Custer (and Kai).

Original Post: Han Han: Video Of Chongqing Police Subduing A Kidnapper

Original Source: chinaSMACK

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Shenzhen Man Continues To Hold Chat With Dead Father

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

From Netease and KDS:

Son not willing to believe father’s sudden death, holds and chats with body on the side of the road

Summary: A sixty year old man collapsed in an underground tunnel, and died by the time emergency workers arrived on the scene. His son, upon arriving, refused to believe his father has died, saying, “Dad…” “We spoke on the phone only this morning…”

The son, not willing to believe that his father has died, continues talking with him. Photo: Xu Wen Ge

In an underground tunnel of the Feng Hu local dried food market at Dushu village in Luohu district, a sixty year old man suddenly collapsed and died. Photo: Xu Wen Ge

At 11:30 am yesterday, the old man's son hurried to the scene. "Where's Dad?" He frantically ran into the tunnel while crying, picked up his dead father and ran out of the tunnel again, putting him down adjacent to a basketball court. Photo: Xu Wen Ge

"Dad..." he said to his father, "we spoke on the phone only this morning...". He clutched his father's hand in his, and kept talking to him. Photo: Xu Wen Ge

Son’s love deeply moved passers-by

At 11:30 am yesterday, the old man’s son hurried to the scene. “Where’s Dad?” He frantically ran into the tunnel while crying, picked up his dead father and ran out of the tunnel again, putting him down adjacent to a basketball court. His hands were shaking, friends lit a cigarette for him, and then, after taking a few sharp puffs, propped his father up against the wire netting of the basketball court.

“Dad…” he said to his father, “we spoke on the phone only this morning…”. He clutched his father’s hand in his, and kept talking to him. He didn’t believe his father had passed away, and kept touching his father’s chest. By then he didn’t have any more tears to cry, and could only persist in talking to him, and would even smile every now and then… But his mother on the other hand could only hold her granddaughter at one side crying.

The son looked to the civil police officer nearby; “What’s wrong with my dad?” he asked. The officer answered quietly, “The forensic investigator says it was a heart attack.” He touched his father’s chest again, and said in a distant voice, “Yes, dad had had something wrong with his heart…”

In the sunshine, he continued chatting with his father, but his father’s head fell to one side. The touching scene caused strangers passing by to wipe the tears from their eyes, with some even saying cautiously, “Is that guy’s father still alive…?”

After preliminary investigation from Luohu police, it was determined that the old man had died suddenly. According to civil police on the scene, a forensic examiner had found that the man had had a history of cardiovascular disease.

Comments from Netease:

Mobile Netease user from Guangdong:

My dad also passed away suddenly from this kind of disease! I cried more than I ever had before!
I hope dad’s doing well up there, I also wish everyone down here health and safety.

Netease user from Bingzhou, Shandong:

Actually, sometimes a quick death can be a blessing~~ a lot better than living in misery!

Mobile Netease user from Nanjing, Jiangsu:

Your father made me cry during the New Year celebrations!

Netease User from Yangpu, Shanghai:

On November 29 2009 my father also, was having breakfast at home when he suddenly slid off his chair. We called 120 but by the time the ambulance arrived he was gone. I wanted to carry him to his bed, but I just couldn’t do it. I can’t write any more my tears are pouring down my face.

Netease User from Mars:

Chinese people, it seems, are still very filial, just sometimes bound by too many restrictions, and thus unable to do their filial duty.

Netease User from Baoan, Shenzhen:

My heart is aching. Old man, your son loves you, rest in peace.

Mobile Netease User from Shanghai:

I get the feeling that family is so important, he should should rest in peace, the young one should be a bit stronger, the road ahead is long… I hope your father has someone to talk to him in heaven.

Netease User in Pudong, Shanghai:

I’ve cried yet again, I’m sad that I don’t have this brave guy to help me be a better child to my parents, but the more I think of my dearly departed father, the more I want to be a good child to my mother!!

Netease User in Beijing:

Respecting one’s parents is traditional in China~ But nowadays in order to allow their parents to live a happy and fulfilling later life, their children rush about making money. But when they’re away from home they can’t look after their parents…Parents want their children to be by their side~ but if they are they can’t make any money… Unless you’re a high-ranking official… How could we fart people ever show our parents the respect they deserve….

I love my mum & dad more than anything… Whenever I go to temple I pray for their health and safety. But to make money I’ve left home, and have no way to stay with them and help them… a real catch 22.
After I read the story, I cried for a long time… so cold and lonely…

Netease User in Hunan:

The only thing you can count on in this world is your family, no one can tolerate us or look after us like our parents. If unfortunate things happen, it hurts a lot.

Netease User from Weihai, Shandong:

There’s nothing more tragic in life than when a parent dies!!! That kind of pain goes straight to your heart, you cry and cry. People whose parents are in good health can’t understand how it feels.
My dad also died suddenly. It took me no less than six years to accept this reality. I used to be afraid of the dark more than anything else, but after my father died I stopped. Sometimes in the middle of the night I sought out dark places to see if my father was there. Once, after work, I saw my father walking in a park not far ahead of me. It looked just like my father, his height, his figure, his weight, the way he’d walk, even his clothes looked like clothes that my father had owned. I rode my bike around to face him, and saw immediately that it wasn’t him. I was so puzzled, how could it be that it wasn’t him? I definitely had seen my father. The old man looked at me too, then walked away. I stood there lost in thought, I couldn’t work out what was going on. But I wasn’t scared at all, sometimes I really want to see him again!!
Note: Please don’t tell me off for this, I’m telling the truth. Reading this story today has made me remember the past. I want to say one last thing: those of you whose parents are still healthy, treasure them, cherish them, treasure them again! No matter how stern they were with you when you were younger, as soon as they are gone all you have left will be regret.

Original Post: Shenzhen Man Continues To Hold & Chat With Dead Father

Original Source: chinaSMACK

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Nepotism? 23YearOld Government Deputy Bureau Chief

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Who is this girl and why is her photograph being talked about by angry Chinese netizens recently? The story begins with a government appointment public announcements from the city of Xintai in China. Here is a copy that was posted by a netizen on the popular Tianya China BBS discussion forum, who titled the post “A government appointment public announcement that completely shocked me”:

Notification of Xintai City Public Selection of Cadre Leadership

In accordance with Xintai City Public Selection of Cadre Leadership guidelines, based on open registration, qualifications assessment, fair testing, testing oversight, and according to Xintai City municipal review, seven comrades [sic] will serve as deputy bureau chief level leaders. For the sake of transparency for cadre appointments and public scrutiny by the masses, relevant information concerning the candidates is publicly announced.

Liu Ting Ting, Female. Shandong Province, Xintai. Born December, 1984. College graduate. Current post is trial period for Case Filing Assistant in Daiyue District People’s Court. Proposed assignment is Deputy Justice of Xintai City People’s Court.

Wang Peng, Anhui Province, Xiaoxian County. Born October, 1984. College graduate, bachelor’s degree in business management. Current post is clerk for Xintai City Public Finance Bureau dealing with private companies. Proposed assignment is Deputy Bureau Chief of Xintai City Auditing Bureau.

Lu Yu Jing, Female. Shandong Province, Laiwu. Born October , 1983. College graduate, bachelor’s degree in law. Current post is records clerk in Xintai City People’s Court (Economic Development Zone Court). Proposed assignment is Deputy Bureau Chief of Xintai City Judicial Bureau.

Zhang Sheng Yin. Shandong Province, Feixian County. Born March , 1976. Graduate Degree, master’s in engineering. Current post is infrastructure division clerk in Wei Fang – Bin Hai Economic Development Zone Transportation Bureau. Proposed assignment is Deputy Bureau Chief of Xintai City Construction Bureau.

Zhu Yong Feng, Shandong Province, Laiwu. Born January, 1981. College graduate, bachelor’s in engineering. Current post is assistant engineer Xintai City Construction and Architecture Institute. Proposed assignment is Deputy Bureau Chief of Xintai City Planning Bureau.

Wang Ran, Female, Shandong Province, Xintai. Born July, 1986. College graduate, dual bachelor’s degrees in business management and economics. Current post is staff member in Xintai City Discipline Supervisory Commission Case Review Office. Proposed assignment is Deputy Bureau Chief of Xintai City State Asset Management Bureau.

Li Lin Tao, Henan Province, Zhengzhou. Born March, 1982. College graduate, bachelor’s in business management. Current post is staff member Xintai City Prosecutor’s Office Asset Management Division. Proposed assignment is Deputy Bureau Chief of Xintai City State Asset Management Bureau.

If there are objections to the aforementioned candidates or feedback questions, please direct them to the Municipal Organization Bureau Supervisory and Education Office. Feedback questions should be practical and realistic, telephone and mailed inquiries should contain your real name.

Public Announcement Period: February 1, 2010 to February 7, 2010

Inquiry Hours: Morning from 8:00 to 12:00

Comments from Tianya:

磨刀之石:

Haha , this is interesting/funny, [the Public Announcement Period] should be written as February 1, 2010 11:59 pm to February 2, 2010 12:00 am [so no one has time to object to these appointments.]

fionazeng2010:

Why does it require real names [for inquiries about the candidates]? Then would anyone still dare ask any questions?!

幸福就在生活里:

This does not follow conventional half-rank promotions, but flying-in- a-plane promotion of several ranks.

东方胥:

The main factor is the young age, can they really undertake such heavy responsibilities? Is this yet another case of inheritance?

笑一笑而过:

Very ground-breaking, very forward-looking, very shocking!

罗克斯通:

I thought they were making a joke, intentionally went online to see for myself, this event actually happened! Web address: http://www.xintai.gov.cn/contents/43/6249.html Everyone take a look, don’t know if it’s possible to dig out the backgrounds for these people.

pqx1977:

There is definitely a problem here.

生在长安:

Too shady!

nevexing:

Waiting for human flesh search.

在家过晚年:

[referring to the bolded excerpt above]
[Born in] 1986, directly promoted at such a young age follows what basis? If there are no significant achievements, isn’t promotion to deputy bureau chief too hurried??? Much less to State Asset Management Bureau. Take note of this.

From chinanews.com:

Do they dare to publicly reveal the “Post-80s Bureau Chief’s” family background?

Recently on the internet appeared a post titled “A government appointment public announcement that completely shocked me” where the poster “andybigfan” claimed that at the beginning of February this year, Xintai (a county level city) in Shandong Province newly promoted six deputy bureau chiefs and one deputy justice of the court. Of these seven people, six were born in the 80s, with the youngest being only 23-years-old. “Henceforth Post 80s generation has ascended the political arena.” (Chongqing Business Report, February 21).

The most controversial is “Post 80s Bureau Chief” Wang Ran. Born in July 1986, this young lady joined the Discipline Supervisory Commission Case Review Office as a staff member on August 2008 after graduating from college and passing the civil service exam. According to an estimation, after a trial period of one year, she has barely served a few months as a staff member before receiving “a burden from heaven” [Chinese proverb] and assuming a leadership position, resolute and unafraid. The controversy among netizens concerns her limited age, insufficient qualifications, lack of annual performance reviews, and is just a young adult with basically an empty political track record. At rocket speed, she has risen from the ranks of staff member to being recognized as a leader, adored by her superiors, appreciated by the organization, and managed to leap-frog her way to such an important position?

According to conventional procedure, going from a regular staff member to an administrative leadership position requires candidates to climb the steps of becoming a deputy section chief, section chief, and deputy staff director*. Cadres must undergo this improvement process so they can accumulate experience, know the pros and cons, acquire competency, and exercise their abilities because leadership skill is a science, not a game. Party and Government Administrative Statutes on Appointing Cadre Leadership states “For county level leadership positions and above, promotion from tier 8 to tier 7 requires cadres to serve at least two years, while promotion from tier 7 to tier 6 requires at least three years. Party and government leadership cadres should strive for promotion.” Even though there are no statutes for tier 11, 10, and 9 promotions, the various regions all base their regulations on the spirit of the official guidelines, and promotions from tier 11, 10, and 9 basically follow the pattern for tier 8. Clearly, when compared to the spirit of the official statutes, Wang Ran only has a few months of experience as a tier 11 staff member and is unqualified for a tier 10 leadership position.

There is only one circumstance which is not accounted for, and that is the promotion by exception. Official statues state “Especially outstanding young cadres or needs arising from special assignments may warrant a promotion by exception.” There is no doubt that Wang Ran’s case is a “promotion by exception”, but other than her age, I’m afraid even the government bureau cannot state with confidence whether she is “especially outstanding” or not. When a reporter went to Xintai to interview the municipal committee bureau in order to obtain information on any remarkable achievements these newly promoted cadres may have had, the person in charge admitted “it’s hard to say”. As far as “needs arising from special assignments” is concerned, it’s not clear how remarkable, sophisticated, or specialized Wang Ran’s job at the State Asset Management Bureau actually is, such that even an ordinary person is qualified for this position. If “young” cadres are what merited the promotion by exception, then from now on shouldn’t the government bureau be going to kindergarten to select cadres?

It’s no wonder that netizens are basically unanimous in speculating that Wang Ran is the local “second generation official” or “third generation official”, which is indicated by her grades from two previous interviews. As shown on the Xintai government website, Wang Ran grades at the latest civil service exam was 64.83 for the written test, 86.00 for the interview, with a composite score of 75.41. Her grades for the 2008 test for civil staff member were 52.8 for the written, 79.2 for the interview, with a composite of 64.88. The scores for her interviews were far higher than her written tests. Interview scoring is arbitrary and not necessarily subject to reality. As such, netizens are ridiculing, questioning, and denouncing, yet the local bureau yet again cannot provide substantially convincing documents. There is only one way to quiet public criticism and that is for the local bureau to make public Wang Ran’s family background. Publicly disclose her parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, their jobs, their positions, and let netizens decide for themselves. However, is the local government capable of doing this?

* The Chinese civil service follows a 15 level system divided into 12 tiers with clerks (Level 10-15) at the bottom and the Premier of the P.R.C (currently occupied by Wen Jia Bao) at Level 1. The civil servant in question, Wang Ran, was at tier 11 before being promoted to tier 6.

Comments from chinanews.com:

123.154.210.x:

Awaiting the expose.

116.226.192.x:

Shady government bureaucracy!

221.199.40.x:

So society has become like this! This kind of corruption hasn’t been around for only one or two years [isn't new], the result of a dictatorship is despotism!

221.2.63.x:

Not uncommon, Rizhao city in Shandong also has this.

218.93.15.x:

Used to it! These days, civil servant appointments are all behind closed doors, promoting officials certainly depends on connections [guanxi].

59.39.139.x:

The cadre promotion procedure has always been a black box, tests are merely a formality.

60.210.7.x:

This is a unique feature of China.

180.137.215.x:

In China, it is one generation bequeathing to the next.

See also:

“The 23-Year-Old Female Deputy Bureau Chief” (EastSouthWestNorth)

Original Post: Nepotism? 23-Year-Old Government Deputy Bureau Chief

Original Source: chinaSMACK

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Brother Sharp Beggar Hailed Most Handsome Fashionable

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

From QQ:

Fashionable beggar becomes famous online, encounters human flesh search

“Those sad eyes/that sad expression, the sad mustache, the miraculous godly hair, and that messy hair, all of it has deeply captivated me.” …Recently, a very hot/popular beggar post has become famous on the internet, the post narrating what netizens have hailed as “The Ultimate Gorgeous #1 Passerby Handsome Guy” beggar. Owing to his unconventional, nondescript appearance as well as his original “mashup”, netizens have begun following him, even “human flesh searching” him.

Tianya calls him “犀利哥”, xīlì gē, “Brother Sharp” or “Sharp Brother”.

It can also translate to “Brother Penetrating” or “Penetrating Brother” … but…

Comments from Tianya:

抱得美人儿归:

Ding…one handsome guy…
Look at him wrinkle his brow…nothing needs to be said…sexy…

yumi717:

Wow, he is really handsome~~how did he sink to living on the streets??
Call for a human flesh search!

我是樱桃控:

I heard that many beggars are guilty of a major crime running from the law, becoming beggars to conceal their identity. If this guy is unfortunately one of them, and his photograph is posted on the internet, will he be in danger?

月亮熊天亮了:

Brother Sharp
Please
freely
go pursue a career in Japan.
Let those
girly men
experience
a melancholy man.

左栏悠郁:

China truly has innumerable handsome guys, Brother Sharp, you are truly too handsome.

恋海之妖:

So handsome, except he seems to be a little short,
as expected no one is perfect.
Cups fluttering by…

蔷薇余香:

He doesn’t really look like a beggar, more like a vagabond. The quality of this person’s tops are all not bad, a down jacket, cotton jacket, even a leather jacket inside, and though they’re a bit dirty, they’re all in good condition, not the kind that beggars find from the trash.
That photo of him walking is indeed very handsome, very Japanese or Korean [style]. And some are like a Hong Kong actor.

甜小豆:

OMG~
So “man” [manly], so cool…
Except…except I still have a little psychological reservation against dirty men…so…please be sure to…wash yourself clean and make yourself presentable before going out!!!

小黑免奶糖:

That frowning look…
Ai yo! My little heart!
Really so handsome!

Echo_Hide:

Beg a talent scout to go find him [to become an actor]…for the benefit of the masses.

One netizen created a photoshop and others have posted other pictures of “fashionable” beggars:

Trendy beggars. chinaSMACK personals.

From Tianyi123:

Ningbo’s Handsome Guy Beggar is just a poor/pitiful guy

Many netizens have sent me messages asking me to verify whether that latest famous handsome guy begger is really a beggar. Here I will testify that it can be said that he is.

Long ago in 2008 I encountered him. Most people who see him will avoid him, treating him as a beggar and the link, but actually this is not accurate. 乞丐 [qǐgài "beggar"] in our country’s ancient words first appeared as a monosyllabic word. The meaning of 乞 [qǐ] in the golden texts was “to beg”. But he does not beg, nor does he know how to beg, because he has psychological problems (in Ningbo they call it “great fog sickness”). They do not have an identity, they do not have family, they’ve even forgotten who they are. They are a group of people abandoned by society, and their final outcome is to die without anyone inquiring about them. They wander in the space between humans and animals. Help them a bit and they become humans, ignore them and they are animals.

He once said this to me: “Find a girl to love me.”

When I first met him, he was picking up discarded cigarettes to smoke again. I asked him: Hungry? He said: Hungry. I again asked: Here’s 10 yuan, do you know how to go buy something to eat by yourself? (I wanted to test his ability to take care of himself) He said: Okay. With the 10 yuan, he then purchased a pack of cigarettes at a small shop nearby.

I asked: Isn’t your stomach was hungry? Why didn’t you buy something to eat? He pointed at a trash can, then pointed at his stomach. At the time, I did not understand, thinking he was able to pick trash to exchange for food [sort trash for recyclable items to exchange for money]. However later, I saw a scene that broke my heart.

Only when spending time with him in later days did I understand why he likes to wear women’s clothes. Maybe you will say: Male deviant, simply perverted, simply likes women’s clothes. You will only be partially right, as the real reason is his heart yearns for a home, a woman to take care of him, love him. Sometimes he is himself, and sometimes he pretends to be the woman that loves him.

Every time I find him, I will always give him 10 yuan. And he always goes to buy a pack of cigarettes. He has many sets of women’s clothes, all picked out from piles of trash.

People will ask: Aside from smoking, how does he solve his food problem if he also does not know to beg? The below pictures are of him finding things to eat. I hope your ability to stomach things is stronger than my old cat.

In front of the door to a flower shop, the ground has discarded food discarded by the florist (I despise this flower shop’s disgusting behavior of discarding refuse in front of its door, ruining the public sanitation, and on rainy days the oil makes it easy for pedestrians to slip and fall). Seeing that there is still a small piece of meat on the ground, he squats down to pick it up to eat.

At this moment, my heart cried. These people who truly need our attention have instead been ruined by a bunch of beggars and cheats/con-artists. Since they already are unable to tell the difference between what is real and what is fake, they might as well close the door on love. Today, the reason I spent half a year’s time to investigate and experience their lives is to wake up everyone’s caring hearts, so that we will go help them, so they can become a meaningful person.

Turning around again to look at the stuff on the ground, this is stuff even a dog would not eat (these days there are people who treat dogs better than people), and I don’t know why I thought of something that was once written: Behind red doors food go to waste, while frozen bones lie on the streets.

His road may be very long or it may be very short. What his future will be like I do not know.

Someone to love you. chinaSMACK personals.

Original Post: Brother Sharp: Beggar Hailed Most Handsome, Fashionable

Original Source: chinaSMACK

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Pretty Real Estate Salesgirl Working During Spring Festival

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

From Mop:

Fourth Day of the New Year, don’t cry most beautiful real estate saleslady I have ever seen!

This post is for all those who weren’t able to go home for Spring Festival because they had to work.

The girl in this post definitely knows I was taking photos of her, because she saw me! What she didn’t know was that I’d post the photos on the net. I am doing this because a) I think she’s really beautiful, b) I think she’s quite kind. She didn’t get angry so I still have a chance! I hope everyone can have something nice to say because although I didn’t get her phone number, I gave her my business card. So if you give me a hard time she definitely won’t call.

Comments from Mop:

流泪的阿童木:

When I saw the first photo my first reaction was “Nice tits~”. Then I saw the rest and realised they were just sprouts. 囧

爱昵2018:

This real estate girl is really brutal when it comes to men. It’s difficult to withstand her beauty.

默默无闻的小人物:

She’s really beautiful. Well done lou zhu. Only thing is this kind of thing can get in the way of people’s daily lives though.

malisd31:

I think if this post becomes popular and she sees it,
you might have a shot…brothers.
Nice one ~
Take some more! Support support!!!

卖糕滴小行家:

Not that beautiful actually but lots of character. She knows she’s working hard. I really like her.

天草小狼:

LZ if you’re gonna take photos just go for it, or just tell her you’re going to. Usually cute girls don’t say no.

slyu000000:

The lou zhu is setting bait for us on behalf of the property developer…

耗儿吃鱼:

Nowadays this kind of hardworking hot woman is really praiseworthy. But I don’t know if in her job by selling houses she’s actually selling herself?
I strongly suggest a human flesh search engine!

猪头头007:

I admit I like her, seeing her crying smashed my heart into tiny pieces~~~~~~

大掠美女:

I don’t want to say that this is purely a publicity stunt, because everyone wants to be famous these days. Diligence is its own reward, When I worked for a real estate developer, I found out that they make quite a lot of money. You get what you put in, no one is born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

"So ugly and you want hit on me?"

Healthier than photographing real estate salesladies. chinaSMACK personals.

Original Post: Pretty Real Estate Salesgirl Working During Spring Festival

Original Source: chinaSMACK

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Hong Kong Girl Shows Off C Cup Breasts To ExBoyfriend

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

This video of a Hong Kong girl showing off her new C cup breasts became popular recently. In the video, she is taunting her ex-boyfriend who had dumped her.

On YouTube:

I do not understand Cantonese so here is a translation from The Dark Side:

Ng ga ching, you cheap bastard! Before you got me, you did whatever I asked of you. After you got me, we had to go Dutch on everything. Ok, that was still fine, but then you started complaining that my tits are AA cups and too small! And you dumped me because of that?

Today, 3 months after we broke up, I want to show you something. Now, take a good look, I have a C cup! Don’t you regret dumping me now? And I bet you want to do me again, right? But sorry, you don’t stand a chance anymore. I won’t see you again and I will NEVER let you touch my C’s.

Ng Ga Ching, you could say I’m a bitch or that I have princess syndrome, but whatever it is, you can never say that I am small again. Look at them, they are C’s! You don’t even have a C on your school certificate.

Comments from Tudou:

观光土豆:

[She] really has nothing better to do~~~

观光土豆:

Xiong Hong Kong girls these days really use xiong to xiong people…even going on Tudou to show off their big xiong…even lower and classless than their boyfriends…next time their boyfriends say they’re not virgins, are they going to go get fake hymens…and then go on Tudou, take off their pants and show everyone…I’m waiting…
[凶, fierce/mean and 胸, chest/bosom/breasts are both "xiōng"]

观光土豆:

Big deal, if you really had guts, you would expose it all.

观光土豆:

Legendary advertisement [viral advertising].

观光土豆:

Isn’t there something in the world called squeezing your breasts together?
Qie, I think she’s just squeezing them together.
Otherwise it’s an advertisement selling Vitamin CCCC.
Everyone agree?

观光土豆:

Advertisement!! Evaluation complete!!! Although, very creative!!!!

观光土豆:

This shameless thing, what use are big breasts, she doesn’t even look that good, so no matter how big you make them they are of no use!!! I pei [spit]!

观光土豆:

The horror of modern women. This guy should thank her for not exposing his true character…conclusion is that one must not offend 21st century females.

观光土豆:

I am thinking…maybe this girl made this video for her ex-boyfriend…afterward made public by that boyfriend to get revenge on her…thus allowing us to see this video…

观光土豆:

A stupid cunt, truly losing face for women, shameless.

AA cups. chinaSMACK personals.

Original Post: Hong Kong Girl Shows Off C Cup Breasts To Ex-Boyfriend

Original Source: chinaSMACK

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Wife Caught Cheating Begs For Advice Online

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

From Mop:

Husband goes on a business trip, bored, so had sex with an internet friend and was discovered!

We’ve lived together for six years, yet it’s all ruined within a month. He was on a business trip, I was bored and wandered around the internet. I became familiar with a charming guy, developed a relationship, sneakily fooled around with him for several days, but in the end my husband found out.

He has never hit me before, but my pampering husband slapped me heavily across the face. Afterward, he slammed the door and did not return home for three days. He came back yesterday at noon, but he brought the divorce agreement, he had already signed it and wanted a divorce. I kneeled down in front of him grasping onto his leg, begging for his forgiveness. He kicked me away and left, saying he’d return when I finished signing. I’ve almost died from weeping. I feel he still loves me, the assets will be split 70/30, he gave me 70, 30 for himself. The divorce agreement is in right front of me. Hugging a pillow, I cried for a day and a night, I’ve almost become numb. I don’t want to lose my husband, I called him, sobbing and shouting yet he is indifferent, only that one sentence telling me to sign it so we can divorce quickly. What should I do???

Don’t scold me anymore, okay? I know the mistake was my fault, I’m very regretful!!!

Yesterday at night my husband returned again, said he was picking up some clothes and staying at the company dorms, he’s part of a construction company. He doesn’t speak to me, when he does talk he bitterly says divorce related words. I see him put his clothes one-by-one into the bag, my heart was shattered. He left again after he finished picking up his clothes, I held onto him pleading him not to leave, saying many repentant words, begging him not to leave me. He flings me to the side and opens the door, I tightly grasp onto door handle preventing him opening the door.

He became enraged and forcefully yanked my arm away with one hand, while his other hand wrapped around my waist, and dragged me to the bedroom. He angrily threw me onto the bed. How can my strength compare to his, moreover I haven’t eaten anything in several days, I’m somewhat weak. He stepped out, I feared once he leaves he’ll never come back so I desperately got up, ran out and grappled onto him using the door frame to pull him back. The mirror beside the door was shattered, my husband left after all. I sat by the door and cried for who knows how long. My parents still don’t know about this, if they knew I’d be castigated to death, if my family knew, I wouldn’t have the face to live on, I’m so close to breaking down. What should I do?

Comments from Mop:

男仔V:

This is very typical! This sort of thing happening in today’s society is no big deal …

00猫00:

Wait a few days and then discuss with him… perhaps it will be better… if it’s still no good…you should let it go.

~网事如风~:

At the time you were playing around you didn’t think about the consequences?

will2044:

Get a divorce! There’s nothing much to say.

脸上的幸福:

divorce divorce divorce divorce divorce divorce divorce divorce divorce divorce divorce divorce divorce.

buletears521:

Go to hell…best if you go further…filthy goods [whore]…

weng1988:

You’re very ignorant.

hzksky:

You made your own mistake, so you have to take your own responsibility.

qwdaibiao:

It’s too late. Just sign it. If it’s real, I believe your husband will never be on good terms with you again.

wangkunduqing:

I guess I will console you a bit. Even though I don’t approve of your way of handling things, since something we don’t hope to see has already happened, and you fully comprehend your mistake, I suggest you don’t cry like this anymore, it doesn’t help solve the problem. You should think of a way to calmly discuss with him, don’t hold back, if there’s something to be said, say it openly. Put in your utmost effort to salvage this marriage. If there’s absolutely no way, I think you should at the very minimum retain your dignity. Since he has already decided, you should not beg him further and lose your self-respect, otherwise, even if you were to make up, there will be a crisis later on. After all, a broken mirror cannot be perfectly round again, a mirror with a crack will not shine perfectly. Perhaps your life from now on will be weary!

1093次失恋:

I hate lowly people like you the most, serves you right to be tossed aside.

dio19850604:

You reap the fruits of your labor. No one will sympathize, no one will pity you, obviously you knew it was wrong yet you did it anyway so you’ll have to face reality.

一个JB两头插:

Hate you so much, because my love is so deep. You have betrayed a man who loved you, you broke his heart. Cheap slut, I really want to slap you, go die, don’t go on pretending you’re pure.

痞子孩:

You’ve brought your own consequences, but cannot live on. Why bother?

liuyangs0124:

You can try discussing [with him], “flirtatious man”…lou zhu, you saying this is so… also, six years of marriage, your age isn’t young any more, so… [forget it, I] won’t say anymore, even an upstanding official finds it difficult to resolve family disputes [this is a Chinese proverb].

水煮鱿鱼:

I don’t know what kind of personality your husband has.
You can analyze starting from his character.
What can you do so that he’ll forgive you?
After all, you said he pampered you for six years.
Therefore it’s not possible he’ll abandon you after just this one incident.

双子座情人:

Lou zhu you can go fuck off~

溫ˉ尛貍:

Play with fire and burned yourself. Fun, isn’t it~~~

SaliM:

I hate women like you the most.
So happy having sex with other people, right?
No matter how much you cry, it is no use.
Already such a grown person yet yo don’t consider the consequences of your actions,
You can take a hike.

Next. chinaSMACK personals.

Original Post: Wife Caught Cheating, Begs For Advice Online

Original Source: chinaSMACK

China Internet Tip: Are you blocked behind the Great-Firewall in China? Cannot reach Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter? Try using Freedur VPN.

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Joe Biden and Reconciliation

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

MSNBC says we may all be overestimating the power the Senate parliamentarian has over the reconciliation process.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

For those unable to watch the video just yet, here's MSNBC's write up:

"The parliamentarian only can advise," [former Senate parliamentarian of 37 years Robert] Dove said. "It is the vice president who rules."
It is widely understood that the parliamentarian would rule whether or not items under reconciliation are germaine to the budget. It wasn't always the case that items under reconciliation had to pertain to the budget. But it had been used so often to defeat filibusters, Dove said, that in the 1980s Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) instituted a the budget rule. It is now known as the Byrd Rule. The parliamentarian currently is Alan Frumin. Not since Hubert Humphrey, Dove said, has there been a vice president played such a powerful role. But as NBC's Chuck Todd, who co-hosts the show, pointed out, perhaps not since Humphrey has the U.S. seen a vice president as comfortable with the rules of the Senate as Biden.

"That's why I brought this up," Dove said. "Yes. Humphrey had been the majority whip. He had been in the Senate since 1948. He felt very comfortable playing an important role. And it's quite possible that Vice President Biden [would]."

It is still unclear the lengths to which Vice President Joe Biden, or the Obama administration more broadly, are willing to go to ensure the passage of healthcare reform legislation. But considering that they may have the ability to ensure that a reconciliation "fix" to the bill already passed through the Senate and on its way to the House -- where, by the way, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is confident she has the votes -- healthcare reform may be more viable than we previously believed.

The Invasion of Public Lands by Mexican Drug Cartels

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Last year, a wildfire in Santa Barbara's Los Padres National Park consumed more than 136 square miles. That fire was sparked by a cooking fire started by the employees of a Mexican drug cartel tending to some 30,000 marijuana plants in the remote and rather inaccessible canyons of central California. It was far from an isolated incident according to US law enforcement agents and the fire highlighted an alarming trend: the unseen invasion of California wilderness and public lands by Mexico's ruthless drug cartels that has taken place underneath our very noses over the past two decades.

Today, the Associated Press takes a look at the invasion of public lands by Mexican drug cartels.

Pot has been grown on public lands for decades, but Mexican traffickers have taken it to a whole new level: using armed guards and trip wires to safeguard sprawling plots that in some cases contain tens of thousands of plants offering a potential yield of more than 30 tons of pot a year. "Just like the Mexicans took over the methamphetamine trade, they've gone to mega, monster gardens," said Brent Wood, a supervisor for the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement. He said Mexican traffickers have "supersized" the marijuana trade.

Interviews conducted by The Associated Press with law enforcement officials across the country showed that Mexican gangs are largely responsible for a spike in large-scale marijuana farms over the last several years.

Local, state and federal agents found about a million more pot plants each year between 2004 and 2008, and authorities say an estimated 75 percent to 90 percent of the new marijuana farms can be linked to Mexican gangs.

In 2008 alone, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, police across the country confiscated or destroyed 7.6 million plants from about 20,000 outdoor plots. Growing marijuana in the U.S. saves traffickers the risk and expense of smuggling their product across the border and allows gangs to produce their crops closer to local markets.

Distribution also becomes less risky. Once the marijuana is harvested and dried on the hidden farms, drug gangs can drive it to major cities, where it is distributed to street dealers and sold along with pot that was grown in Mexico.

About the only risk to the Mexican growers, experts say, is that a stray hiker or hunter could stumble onto a hidden field.

The remote plots are nestled under the cover of thick forest canopies in places such as Sequoia National Park, or hidden high in the rugged-yet-fertile Sierra Nevada Mountains. Others are secretly planted on remote stretches of Texas ranch land.

All of the sites are far from the eyes of law enforcement, where growers can take the time needed to grow far more potent marijuana. Farmers of these fields use illegal fertilizers to help the plants along, and use cloned female plants to reduce the amount of seed in the bud that is dried and eventually sold.

Mexican gang plots can often be distinguished from those of domestic-based growers, who usually cultivate much smaller fields with perhaps 100 plants and no security measures. Some of the fields tied to the drug gangs have as many as 75,000 plants, each of which can yield at least a pound of pot annually, according to federal data reviewed by the AP.

I've noted this before but the war on drugs is a forty year failure. Prohibitionist policies based on eradication, interdiction and criminalization of consumption simply haven't worked. The war on drugs is an enormous waste of resources. The United States now incarcerates people at a rate nearly five times the world average. In large part, that’s because the number of people in prison for drug offenses has risen from under 50,000 in 1980 to over half million today. Until the war on drugs with their draconian drug laws came along, our incarceration rate was roughly the same as that of other countries. Jeffrey Miron, a Harvard economist, has found that federal, state and local governments spend $44.1 billion annually enforcing drug prohibitions. We spend seven times as much on drug interdiction, policing and imprisonment as we do on treatment. It's time to treat drug addiction as healthcare problem and not a law enforcement problem. It is also high time to consider legalization, not as a panacea but as the least worst option.

Bill Halter Takes the Plunge into ARSen

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

From the campaign website of Arkansas' Democratic Lieutenant Governor, Bill Halter:

Fox News says that this is "trouble" for the Arkansas Democrats. I'm not so sure. Don't get me wrong, incumbent Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln, against whom Halter is mounting a primary challenge, trails her leading Republican opponent by about 20 points. But she was trailing long before Halter got in the race.

No, this news may actually be good for the Democrats. Both First Read and Political Wire note this morning that as a result of Halter stepping into the Democratic primary, Lincoln's vote becomes significantly more reliable for the Democrats (assuming she wants another term in the Senate) as she has to look over her left shoulder, not just her right. In a Senate where every single vote counts, this could be the difference between passing healthcare reform and not. So perhaps Halter making a race of it isn't really "trouble" after all.

Supposedly Endangered House Dem Up 20 Points

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Charlie Cook seems to think it's all but a fait accompli that the Democrats will lose the House of Representatives in November. He might want to tell that to the voters in Alabama's second congressional district, which despite tending to lean about 16 points more Republican than the nation as a whole looks on track to reelect its freshman Democratic Congressman this year by a wide margin.

A new poll conducted for Rep. Bobby Bright's (D-AL) campaign shows that while he may sit in a very vulnerable CD, he starts out in strong shape for re-election.

The survey, conducted by Anzalone-Liszt (D), shows Bright leading Montgomery Councilor Martha Roby (R), AL school board member Stephanie Bell (R) and businessman Rick Barber (R) handily. The survey was conducted 2/8-11, among 500 LVs; It has a margin of error of +/- 4.4%. The survey was first posted in the Montgomery Advertiser.
General Election Matchups 
Bright    54%        Bright    55%
Roby      30         Bell      29
 
Bright    58%
Barber    26

This is an internal poll, and there are enough reasons to take such campaign-sponsored surveys with a grain of salt that I need not be too explicit with a word of caution. That said, these aren't the types of numbers that look to be skewed -- and if they were, the National Republican Congressional Committee would already be out with its own numbers showing a radically different outcome. In the absence of such pushback from the Republicans, it's not hard to imagine that the Democrat Bright is in fact leading by a wide margin -- perhaps not 24 percentage points and more, but a wide margin nonetheless -- in the very red district he represents.

And this represents a genuine challenge to the model employed by some of the Beltway prognosticators that says the Democrats have already put themselves in position to lose the House this cycle. If the Republicans can't even be competitive in an R+16 district featuring a freshman Democrat in a race Cook now labels as "a tossup," how, exactly, are they supposed to win back the 40 seats they need to regain a majority in the chamber?

Longterm unemployed pay the price for Senate dysfunction

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

As long-term unemployment continues to rise, unemployment benefits for many Americans will run out tonight because the U.S. Senate failed to pass a bill extending the benefits late last week. An estimated 1.2 million Americans stand to lose unemployment benefits during the month of March if Congress does not act. For reasons I don't understand, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid left the benefits extension out of the jobs bill approved by the Senate on February 24.

The following day, the House of Representatives approved a separate bill containing a one-month extension of unemployment benefits, federal subsidies for people on COBRA health insurance plans, current Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors, and a few other programs. Democrats tried to bring this bill up for a Senate vote right away, but retiring Republican Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky repeatedly objected to motions for unanimous consent. Democrats promised to keep filing motions until Bunning broke down, but instead they adjourned near midnight on Thursday night.

Democrats have been slamming Bunning in public statements and e-mail blasts. Here's an example from Senator Tom Harkin's office on Friday:

“We need to act quickly to extend the safety net and make sure laid-off workers have access to unemployment benefits through the end of the year, at least,” said Harkin. “It is heartbreaking to see political games being played with the lives of hardworking people who are struggling to find a job, particularly when there has been strong bipartisan support in the past to extend unemployment benefits and other vital safety net programs.
“Unfortunately this is emblematic of the larger issue plaguing the Senate today: abuse of Senate procedure. We saw it in November as well. While Senate Republicans play games, families are sitting around their kitchen tables wondering how they will make ends meet.

“I intend to do everything in my power to fight this and hope other Senators will join me in this effort.”

[...] In November, Senate Republicans used a similar delay tactic to filibuster a motion to proceed to a bill to extend unemployment compensation. After delaying and grinding Senate business to a halt for nearly a month, the bill passed 97-1.

Bunning's behavior is inexcusable, and he even had the gall to complain about missing a college basketball game while staying on the Senate floor to block this bill.

At the same time, it is pathetic that Democrats adjourned instead of standing and fighting Senate Republicans all weekend long. Apparently one or two other Republicans showed up Thursday night to back up Bunning, but so what? Democrats should have refused to leave until the unemployment benefits bill passed. At the Congress Matters blog, David Waldman explained other ways Democrats could have handled Bunning's procedural roadblock. Chris Bowers looked at the big picture here:

Democrats are in charge, and they are going to get blamed for this. Democratic attempts to blame this on Senate procedure will ring utterly hollow. Not only do people not understand, or care about, those rules, but it simply sounds wimpy and pathetic for the people running the United States Government to throw their hands up in the air and say "our procedural rules prevented us from doing anything to solve this huge problem. Sorry."
Democrats did not have to adjourn. They could have kept fighting Bunning. Further, they all agreed to the rules under which the Senate operates, and most of them are still defending those rules. Blaming Senate procedure is not going to extend anyone's unemployment or COBRA benefits, and its not going to win many hearts around the country.

Sure, Jim Bunning is currently the biggest asshole in the country right now. However, if you think that procedure is a problem, then start working to change the procedure. If you think that unemployment benefits need to be extended, then don't adjourn for the weekend when those benefits are slated to run out.

Sometime this week, or perhaps later in March, Senate Democrats will break the Republican obstruction. But when that happens, "state governments will still have to deal with the extra administrative costs of shutting down and restarting the extended benefits programs."

Some Republicans, like Representative Steve King, are philosophically opposed to extending unemployment benefits, but they fail to acknowledge that extending unemployment benefits has tremendous "bang for the buck." The Iowa Fiscal Partnership recently calculated that that the unemployment benefits extension contained in last year's federal stimulus bill "produced $501.7 million increased economic activity and $112.1 million in income in 2009, while creating or saving 3,727 jobs" in Iowa alone.

This Week in Global Climate Change

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Here's Peter Sinclair's Global Warming Crock of the Week:

In the video Peter goes over some of the fundamental discoveries, the basic facts that we know beyond a doubt, about global warming. Of course, many people will never believe science, because they believe that anything that challenges their world view is all part of a secret, vast global conspiracy.

Case in point is Senator James Inhofe, perhaps at once the most dangerous and the most clueless man on the planet, who gave an interview to Grist. Here's his hoax theory:

Q. You reasserted in today’s hearing your belief that global warming is a hoax. Can you clarify specifically who is perpetrating the hoax? Who are the dupers and who are the victims of the climate hoax?

A. Who are the victims? It would be the United States. It would be the economy, what would happen to this country according to MIT and others who have made analyses as to the economic destruction that would come with something like cap-and-trade or [regulating greenhouse-gas emissions] through the Clean Air Act.

Q. Who are the perpetrators of the hoax?

A. That’s the United Nations and the IPCC, clearly.

Q. Major energy companies have said they believe the scientific consensus on climate change. ExxonMobil said the appropriate debate isn’t on whether the climate is changing, but what we should do about it. NASA, NOAA, the Pentagon, the Pope, evangelical leaders, top executives in all industries, and governments all over the world including China and India—they’ve all acknowledged climate change. Do you believe that all of these entities have been scammed by the U.N. and a handful of scientists in the IPCC?

A. What you’ve just said is not true. There’s not unanimity at all even though you want to believe it.

NOAA and NASA and all these organizations, these people are all tied in to the IPCC. There are a lot of companies, oil companies and all that, who would like to have cap-and-trade. That’s where they can make money.

Q. What do you believe is the motive of the U.N.? What is the motive of the scientists who are perpetrating the hoax? How do you think they stand to benefit?

A. They stand to benefit [from] government grants and private sector grants [from places] like the Heinz Foundation.

We have scientists who are really sincere, and they’ve watched what’s going on and they have a hard time believing it. Those are the ones who started going to me probably seven or eight years ago, saying they’re cooking the science on this, someone’s got to say it, and I said it. And then more of them came. I listed them on my website. I’ve been very clear all along who the perpetrators were, what the motives were.

Q. So you believe that the U.N. and the scientists on the IPCC are perpetrating the hoax in order to get grant money?

A. No, no, no. We’ve already covered this, Amanda. You guys always ask the same question over and over again looking for a different answer. What is it you want that I didn’t already tell you?

Q. I’m trying to clarify the motivation behind the hoax. Why would these scientists want to deceive the global public?

A. It’s very clear that when you have the U.N. behind it, and you have all the Hollywood people moving in, you have the Heinz Foundation, that’s John Kerry’s wife—a lot of very wealthy people.

Many of [the scientists] know that if they were recipients of grants in the past, that could well be cut off. Or if they haven’t had them, they would want them. The complaints I had brought to me were from scientists who said that many scientists had been intimidated into saying things that weren’t true because of that leverage that has been used.

Q. So you believe the scientists and the U.N. are in it for the money?

A. Well, that enters into it, yes.

That's right the Senator from Oklahoma thinks that scientists and the UN are pushing global warming for the money. It's a vast conspiracy spanning decades and scientists from multiple disciplines across the globe. The lunacy of that proposition speaks for itself. It is evidently clear that basic science is beyond the Senator.

The other major development is a lengthy op-ed in the New York Times by former Vice President Al Gore responding to the skeptics and again issuing a call to action.

Anita Dunn Bill Knapp to help UK Conservatives huh?

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Via Lib Dem blogger Mark Pack, Squier, Knapp, Dunn Communications, is going over to help the Tories in the UK:

Advisers close to U.S. President Barack Obama have been drafted by David Cameron to help the Conservatives in their election campaign against Gordon Brown and Labour.

The Tories have signed a contract with Squier, Knapp, Dunn Communications—a Washington-based Democrat-leaning political consultancy— to help them prepare for the first-ever television debates between leaders during a British election campaign...

However, it is the decision of the Tories to reach out across the traditional ideological divide to senior Democrats that is surprising. Their party usually has looked to Republican strategists for advice, with Labour and the Democrats retaining close links.

Ms. Dunn is a veteran of Democrat politics, beginning her career in Jimmy Carter's administration and subsequently working as a consultant on many election campaigns. She returned to the White House with President Obama but left late last year when her husband, Robert Bauer, the president's personal attorney, was unveiled as the incoming White House counsel.

Mr. Knapp made television ads for the Obama campaign, has worked on five presidential campaigns and played a leading role in Mayor Bloomberg's three election wins.

It would be a disaster if David Cameron were to take over as the PM of the UK. What is a Democratic firm doing helping him potentially do it?

I want to disclose too that WebStrong Group has worked with the Liberal Democrats, so I am rooting for the Conservatives or Labour to lack a majority. There's a good chance of that happening too, with the latest poll news showing what would be a split-decision (blog coverage here and here). The upcoming election could wind up resulting in a hung Parliament.

Yet Another House Republican to Retire

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Charlie Cook says that it's "very hard to come up with a scenario where Democrats don't lose the House." The Republicans in the House apparently don't agree with him, though, as evidenced by the continuing trend of party incumbents opting to leave the House instead of waiting around for the GOP's supposedly imminent return to power in the chamber. Here's the latest.

Veteran Rep. John Linder (R-Ga.), an early ally of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and an outspoken fiscal conservative, announced Saturday he was retiring.
Linder disclosed his decision at a Republican breakfast in his district and party officials in Washington confirmed the news.
The 18-year congressman represents a heavily Republican seat in the sprawling suburbs east of Atlanta that is likely to stay in GOP hands.

This district isn't competitive, you say, so why does it matter whether one Republican is going to be swapped out for another? It matters a great deal, in fact.

To flesh out what I stated above, and what I've said before, if House Republicans really believed that they were on the verge of retaking the chamber, they wouldn't be retiring. Take the retiring John Linder, for example. Linder is a member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, and as a ranking member of one of its subcommittees would stand to earn a coveted chairmanship if the Republicans were to retake the House. Yet he's leaving rather than wait less than a year for something that's supposedly a sure thing -- the GOP winning control of the House?

Actions speak louder than words. When Republicans like Congressman Linder -- and a dozen and a half of his compatriots -- decide to leave the House, it says loud and clear that they don't think their party is going to win back the House in November, no matter what Charlie Cook or anyone else has to say.

Shutting Down the Government

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The Republicans don't seem to have learned the lessons from the 1995-1996 budget showdown, after which they were punished for having forced the closure of the federal government.

Two thousand federal transportation workers will be furloughed without pay on Monday, and the Obama administration said they have a Kentucky senator to blame for it.
Federal reimbursements to states for highway programs will also be halted, the Transportation Department said in a statement late Sunday. The reimbursements amount to about $190 million a day, according to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The furloughs and freeze on payments were the result of a decision last week by Republican Sen. Jim Bunning to block passage of legislation that would have extended federal highway and transit programs, the department said. Those programs expired at midnight Sunday.

The extension of transportation programs was part of a larger package of government programs that also expired Sunday, including unemployment benefits for about 400,000 Americans.

The current shutdown, caused by a Republican filibuster, is not on the same scale as the closure nearly 15 years ago -- but it is no less as risky a proposition for the GOP. While the Senate Republicans have blown through the filibuster record during this session, trying to thwart any sense of majority rule in the chamber, their obstructionism has not yet had much of a face to the American people. Yes, healthcare reform has been stalled. But for most Americans, the gridlock in Washington seems to be somewhat of a normal occurrence.

Yet this shutdown changes the game. Republican filibusters now have a face: 2,000 workers furloughed from their jobs, and what's more much-needed transportation construction projects put on hold.

Donald Kohn to Resign from the Federal Reserve

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve has announced that Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve Donald L. Kohn has submitted his intent to resign Monday as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, effective at the expiration of his term on June 23, 2010.

Kohn's departure brings to three the number of vacancies on the Federal Reserve’s seven-member board of governors. The opportunity now exists for the Obama Administration to significantly alter the composition of the Federal Reserve which serves as the nation's central bank. With these appointments the President can significantly have an imprint on the direction of US monetary policy over the next decade.

Banksy film has popup premiere

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Graffiti artist screens new film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, in dingy tunnel beneath London's Waterloo station

Banksy added another string to his creative bow with the world premiere last month of his first film, The World's First Street Art Disaster Movie, and, never one to rest on his laurels, this week sees the launch of his first pop-up cinema.

Exit Through the Gift Shop debuted at the Sundance film festival in January and screened at the 60th anniversary of the Berlin film festival last week.

For the latest screening, the artist opts for a rather more humble setting – a tunnel beneath Waterloo train station in London. Dubbed The Lambeth Palace by its creator, Banksy describes the venue as "London's newest, darkest and dirtiest purpose-built cinema", although he does add the caveat that Cineworld Edmonton is not included.

"The Lambeth Palace is a makeshift 150-seat auditorium in a tunnel under Waterloo train station with popcorn stall, lounge bar and stunning temporary toilet facilities," boasts the blurb.

Showings, which predictably almost immediately sold out, are 6pm and 9.30pm daily until 4 March.

The cinema certainly looks and sounds grim, and those attending previews yesterday seemed to confirm the hype. "Not even the fleapits of the 1970s showing Mary Millington double bills were quite as dank and chilly as this," writes Geoffrey MacNab in the Independent.

People with tickets – of which there must be very few – are warned that "random bag searches [are] in operation, all spray paint, video cameras and laser pens must be checked in at the box office".

On the plus side, it would seem bringing your own fizzy drink and crisps is, for once, allowed.

Jeremy Kay, writing in the Guardian, describes the film as "a modern-day Frankenstein story".

"Ostensibly a documentary about Banksy's relationship with an impressionable French film-maker/stalker, the movie highlights that unquenchable thirst among some people for self-expression. It also explores another side of the equation, when the urge turns into rampant self-promotion."

Adam Gabbatt

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Guardian Daily podcast ICM survey indicates no Tory majority plus homeopathy and the NHS

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The Conservatives should no longer count on winning the election outright, according to a Guardian/ICM poll published today.

Julian Glover has the details. He discusses Andrew Rawnsley's claims about Gordon Brown's character in his book The End of the Party with commentator Michael White.

The beleaguered head of the National Bullying Helpline, Christine Pratt, talks to Steven Morris about her charity and its alleged contact with Downing Street.

Health editor Sarah Boseley explains why MPs have called for the Department of Health to stop funding homeopathy, as there is no scientific evidence that it works better than placebo.

And at London Fashion Week, designer Betty Jackson talks to our fashion editor Jess Cartner-Morley.

Jon Dennis

Phil Maynard

Tim Maby

Guardian Daily podcast Chile earthquake and Camerons final stand

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

With aftershocks still rocking Chile, Jonathan Franklin in Santiago describes the extent of the damage to the country and how the government will cope in the weeks to come.

David Cameron tells his last party conference before the general election that the choice is between him and Gordon Brown. Our chief political correspondent, Nicholas Watt, says he tried to answer the electorate's remaining doubts.

The credit crunch has caused more than stress: dentists are reporting more and more cases of people grinding their teeth. We hear from Edinburgh practitioner Dr Yann Maidment.

At the close of the Winter Olympics, Canada has won the highest number of gold medals. But how did they do as the hosts and organisers of the games? Lawrence Donegan was there for the whole show.

Belinda Rhodes

Tim Maby

Criticism of MI5 to be restored to Binyam Mohamed judgment

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Haroon Siddique follows reaction to court ruling that criticism of MI5, removed from judgment in Binyam Mohamed case at behest of government, is to be restored

Criticism of MI5 that was removed from the ruling on the involvement of the security service in the torture of Binyam Mohamed must be restored to the judgment, the court of appeal ruled today.

The decision is another blow to the government after it lost its attempt earlier this month to cover up MI5's complicity in "cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment" meted out to the British resident Mohamed by the US.

Passages that appeared in the original draft judgment were removed after Jonathan Sumption QC, the government's counsel, claimed the words suggested that MI5's approach undermined assurances given by ministers and that MI5 had "an interest in suppressing information".

The original paragraph must be published, the court of appeal ruled today, although an amended version of the paragraph has now been drafted which was read out in court and will be inserted into the judgment instead.

The director of the civil rights group Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, said the case was "extraordinary, because of so many government shenanigans".

10.24am
Lord Judge, one of the three judges presiding at the court of appeal, said that if the original paragraph was not made publicly available, any comparison between that version and the final version published today "will continue to be informed by deductions and inferences based on Mr Sumption's letter".

"For this reason it would be better by far that the original draft should be disclosed and available for comment in the precise form in which it was written.
In this way it will speak for itself without the forensic gloss put on it by Mr Sumption in his letter."

10.45am
So here's the new paragraph 168, i.e. the new version of the passage that was deleted at the behest of the government. I've highlighted some of the key criticisms.

"168. Fourthly, it is also germane that the Security Services had made it clear in March 2005, through a report from the Intelligence and Security Committee, that they operated a culture that respected human rights and that coercive interrogation techniques were alien to the Services' general ethics, methodology and training(paragraph 9 of the first judgment), indeed they denied that [they] knew of any ill-treatment of detainees interviewed by them whilst detained by or on behalf of the [US] Government" (paragraph 44(ii) of the fourth judgment).
"Yet, in this case, that does not seem to have been true: as the evidence showed, some Security Services officials appear to have a dubious record relating to actual involvement, and frankness about any such involvement, with the mistreatment of Mr Mohamed when he was held at the behest of US officials. I have in mind in particular witness B, but the evidence in this case suggests that it is likely that there were others.
"The good faith of the Foreign Secretary is not in question, but he prepared the certificates partly, possibly largely, on the basis of information and advice provided by Security Services personnel. Regrettably, but inevitably, this must raise the question whether any statement in the certificates on an issue concerning the mistreatment of Mr Mohamed can be relied on, especially when the issue is whether contemporaneous communications to the Security Services about such mistreatment should be revealed publicly.
"Not only is there some reason for distrusting such a statement, given that it is based on Security Services' advice and information, because of previous, albeit general, assurances in 2005, but also the Security Services have an interest in the suppression of such information."

10.54am
Claire Algar, executive director of Reprieve, told the BBC that it was nonsense to suggest the series of rulings relating to Mohamed has threatened British security. "The thing that damages our security is the fact that our security services seem to be involved in torture," she said.
She also condemned the "piecemeal" release of information. Algar said that with the guidelines to the security services on torture remaining the same it was important that past cases were revisited.

"It's very difficult to learn from history if you don't know what history is. It's quite important that we look at what went on and learn from mistakes we made."

11.27am
Some more quotes from Chakrabarti on the BBC, who has called for a public inquiry. She said the government should have dealt with the issue 18 months ago.
She praised the court of appeal for sticking to its guns "under a lot of pressure" and said MI5 would be "very anxious at today's ruling".

"You cannot have morale in your security services or public confidence if you're not being straight about the mistakes of the past."

Chakrabarti added:

"They've [the judges] said look, MI5 told the intelligence committee of parliament, which is one of the few checks on them...that they know nothing of this torture under American control and they've believed them but the case proves that isn't true. It's devastatiing."

11.36am
You can read the appeal court judgement in full here.

Lord Neuberger, the master of the rolls who wrote the original judgement, said he accepted that Sumption's concerns about the first draft of paragraph 168 were justified "but to a significantly more limited extent than I had initially thought".

Explaining the need for a new version of paragraph 168, the judge said he was concerned that the first draft "could have been read as being a general reference to the involvement of Security Service personnel with mistreatment, rather than being limited, as I had intended, to their involvement with Mr Mohamed's mistreatment".

It had also contained a reference to the Foreign Office "which was not really justified", while the second draft was "too attenuated" to explain his reasoning properly.

But the judge rejected Sumption's criticism that the original version of paragraph 168 went "well beyond" the evidence heard by the High Court.
The judge said its contents were "fully supported by the findings of the court based on the evidence".

12.22pm
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Edward Davey has given his view on the judgment. He's pointed the finger at Jack Straw and thrown his weight behind a full judicial inquiry:

"The implication that David Miliband had the wool pulled over his eyes is deeply embarrassing for the Foreign Secretary.
"However, the suggestion that he acted in good faith means the real questions need to be answered by others in government. Did former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw sign off on the 'coercive techniques' referred to in the judgment?
"The suggestion that there were others in the Security Services involved in unacceptable practices makes the need for a full judicial inquiry irrefutable.
"But it must be asked how appropriate it is for Jack Straw to remain in charge of this country's justice system when there are such serious questions laid at his door."

12.29pm
The former shadow home secretary, David Davis, who raised the Mohamed case in Parliament, added his voice to those calling for a judicial inquiry:

"Firstly, we welcome the courts' clear demonstration of their independence from the attempts of bullying from the Government.
"Secondly, it is very clear that they considered carefully the question of whether agencies of Government had an interest in suppressing information. They chose explicitly to reiterate concerns about the Security Services.
"Thirdly, the case for a judicial inquiry is now unanswerable. This case has been made by everybody from the Joint Committee on Human Rights through countless interested NGOs, to the Government's own Equality and Human Rights Commission, as well as all Opposition parties.
"It is now time to clear this matter up once and for all, both to re-establish Britain's moral reputation, and allow agencies to put this behind them in continuing their battle against terrorism."

1.01pm
Home Secretary Alan Johnson has unsurprisingly rejected the court of appeal's criticism of MI5:

"I am deeply disappointed that the court has decided to criticise the security service in this way. The government respects the right of the judges to reach their own judgment. But it is also right that where we disagree with their conclusions we say so.
"The UK's security and intelligence services do outstanding work to keep us safe against a real and continuing terrorist threat, and they do so under proper control and oversight - by ministers, the Intelligence and Security Committee, the commissioners and, where necessary, the courts.
"Allegations regarding Witness B were referred by the government to the attorney general and are already being investigated by the police and are part of a claim for civil damages before the High court. It is vital that these legal processes, which will provide the right level of independent scrutiny, are not undermined and that we allow them to come to their own conclusions.
"We totally reject any suggestion that the security services have a systemic problem in respecting human rights. We wholly reject too that they have any interest in suppressing or withholding information from ministers or the courts."

Haroon Siddique

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

The Northerner Tears of the steelmen

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Europe's largest blast furnace is mothballed, Liverpool to lose Lewis's, and a duke declares the death of aristocracy

It was a week of endings in the north, and not altogether happy ones. Tears and recrimination were in the biting February air as Teesside witnessed what appeared to be the death of its steel industry. Europe's largest blast furnace, in the seaside town of Redcar, was mothballed on Friday, bringing to a close a century and a half of iron and steel production in the area.

"Teesside's only remaining blast furnace now stands cold and empty," wrote Sarah Judd in a vivid account in Monday's Evening Gazette, "after the final drops of molten metal were drained from it yesterday." Some 1,600 jobs will go directly as a result of the closure of the Teesside Cast Products (TCP) works, but the Gazette reckons thousands more will be lost among contractors and supply chain workers. Dave Cocks, the technology manager at the Redcar furnace, said: "There were a few tears, which isn't like blast furnace men, but it was a very significant moment, not only in people's own lives but also in terms of the history of the area."

As well as grief, the closure provoked anger in some quarters. Tony Bunn, 49, from Eston said: "It should never have come to this. The government should have got here more quickly." Corus blamed an international consortium that, it said, backtracked on a commitment to buy most of the plant's steel until 2014. There had been reports of an 11th-hour bid for the plant, and union leaders claimed Corus did not want to sell for fear of competition to its other steel plant in Port Talbot, south Wales, but the firm said there were no offers worth pursuing. Gordon Brown said the government was still looking for buyers or investors.

_____

Brown was in Durham for a cabinet meeting, the latest leg of his mission to bring the government closer to the people. While in the north-east he took the opportunity to launch a £25m plant in Newcastle that will make turbines for wind power. The factory is at the vanguard of new manufacturing enterprises that the prime minister hopes will help Britain out of its economic malaise, as well as offering a greener means of employment than the old heavy industries on which the north-east was built. But the fear is that for many Teessiders, with decades of service in the steel industry but little experience in other work, the new wave may come too late.

Redcar's loss coincided with the anniversary of the fall of another great north-east steel town, Consett. The Chronicle's report on a history project to mark 30 years since the closure of the County Durham town's steelworks contains some bleak pointers for the future of Redcar. Many of the workforce of 4,500 who lost their jobs in the 1980 closure, it recalls, were out of work for years and unemployment reached 35%. But it offers some light at the far end of the tunnel, pointing to the town's recent regeneration "with new leisure developments and an academy school in the pipeline".

_____

Liverpool is preparing for a farewell too, after plans were announced to close the 150-year-old Lewis's department store with the loss of 300 jobs. The photographer Stephen King was recently allowed access to the store's neglected upper floors – closed to the public in the early 1980s – and found what the Liverpool Echo described as a "1950s time capsule". The upper floors housed what was once the world's biggest hair salon, as well as three restaurants, and hand-painted ceramic tilework was found to be "still standing the test of time".

Frenzied concern will now centre on whether Dickie Lewis will continue to present his dangly bits towards the Adelphi hotel. For those unfamiliar with the city's iconography, Dickie is the name locals have given to the nude Sir Jacob Epstein statue that adorns the main entrance to the Lewis's store, and has become a fabled Scouse meeting place.

_____

In Hull, the sculptor Martin Jennings has been chosen to create a statue of the poet Philip Larkin for Paragon station. The statue will be unveiled on 2 December, to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Larkin's death, and will be about the same size as the 7ft statue of Sir John Betjeman at London's St Pancras, also created by Jennings.

The site of the statue is fitting as Paragon was a consistent source of inspiration for Larkin. In his foreword to the book A Rumoured City: New Poets from Hull, Larkin wrote: "When your train comes to rest in Paragon station against a row of docile buffers, you alight with an end-of-the-line sense of freedom." The Philip Larkin statue appeal fund is seeking to raise £80,000. Further details about the Larkin 25th anniversary celebrations can be found at larkin25.co.uk.

_____

The Duke of Devonshire said he is willing to give up his title if the House of Lords is reformed, as he believes the aristocracy is dead. The duke, who lives at the splendid 279-room Chatsworth House near Bakewell, in Derbyshire, said: "I'm only here by pure chance – I haven't earned any of this." He is prepared to stay in his stately home and be called Mr Peregrine Cavendish. "The aristocracy is not dying – it is dead. Coffin's nailed down, it's in the ground. It doesn't exist, except that people have titles." Labour has vowed to remove the 90 remaining hereditary peers from the House of Lords, to be replaced with an elected senate, but the Conservatives oppose the plans.

_____

Helen Carter recommends: The festival of writing at York University, with leading literary agents, authors and writers in attendance. It runs from 9-11 April.

Helen Carter

Ian J Griffiths

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Guardian Daily podcast Inquiry finds ‘shocking’ failures in hospital care plus Natasha Walter on lads’ mags

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

An independent inquiry has found "shocking" failures in care as Mid Staffordshire NHS trust focused on hitting government targets. Health editor, Sarah Boseley, has the details.

A report commissioned by the Home Office recommends that lads' magazines such as Zoo and Nuts should go on the top shelf, and age restrictions should be placed on their purchase. Natasha Walter, author of Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism, gives her view of the sexualisation of children.

The foreign ministers of India and Pakistan have resumed talks on the disputed territory of Kashmir for the first time since the terror attacks on Mumbai in November 2008. Jason Burke reports from New Delhi.

The US ambassador, Louis Susman, welcomes publication of plans for a new American embassy in Britain, on the banks of the Thames in Battersea. Guardian architecture critic Jonathan Glancey gives his approval.

Jon Dennis

Andy Duckworth

Tim Maby

Guardian Daily podcast Commons committee reports on tabloid phone hacking plus Lance Price on PMs and the media

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

A report into press standards has been published by a powerful committee of MPs. It includes the findings of their inquiry into reports in the Guardian of phone hacking by taboid newspapers. Nick Davies tells media editor Steve Busfield how he broke the story. Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the Guardian, gives his reaction to the MPs' report, which also looked at libel and privacy.

The ecosystem of the Great Lakes, the largest body of freshwater in the world, is being threatened by Asian carp. Ed Pilkington reports from Chicago.

Former spin doctor Lance Price, deputy to Alistair Campbell when Tony Blair was in Downing Street, discusses his new book Where Power Lies: Prime Ministers v The Media.

Jon Dennis

Phil Maynard

Tim Maby

Monserrates Hail Mary Opposing SameSex Marriage

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Hiram Monserrate is, to say the least, fighting an uphill battle to regain the State Senate seat he was expelled from recently. Labor unions, the Queens Democratic Party, former colleagues, and local elected officials are supporting his main rival, Assemblyman Jose Peralta.

But he's fighting back.

Today, Monserrate announced he's being supported by a bunch of clergy who are praising him for his support on one particular issue: same-sex marriage. Specifically,...

Swig Gets Hammered with Yet More Lawsuits

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Poor Kent Swig.

At this point, what else is there to say when confronted with yet more lawsuits naming the scion of the Fairmont Hotel fortune, the besieged developer, the son-in-law (for now) of Harry Macklowe?

On Jan. 29, TPG Architecture filed a suit against Swig Equities for precisely $98,500.39 in unpaid bills related to the outfitting of what were to be Mr. Swig's grand new offices on the eighth and ninth floors of his office building at 770...

Educators Support Patersons Wine Plan

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Education advocates, including the United Federation of Teacher's Michael Mulgrew, have signed on in support of Governor David Paterson's plan to allow wine sales in grocery stores. The letter--which doesn't mention Paterson by name--will be sent to lawmakers shortly, I'm told.

A Siena poll last week found that New Yorkers supported the plan, 58 to 39 percent, making it one of Paterson's most (only?) popular...

Oscars New York vs LA

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The Academy Awards may belong to Los Angeles, but that doesn't mean that The Observer and fellow New Yorkers can't boldly declare what Ought To Be. We give you Oscar picks by coastal sensiblities--and who's got the edge in the end.

View the Slideshow...

A Certain Look

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

April 13, 1945, and a 16-year-old kid in the Bronx snapped a photo of a newsstand vendor, his face hemmed in by headlines. "F.D.R. Dies!" and "Roosevelt Dead!" they read. The boy wonder with the 35-millimeter was the quiet, brooding sort with an impossibly deep-set gaze, and he went by the name Stan Kubrick. A junior at William Howard Taft, Kubrick was the son of Jewish immigrants, and he spent more time at...

Advantage Savitt

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The Commercial Observer:

You just celebrated the one-year anniversary of Savitt Partners. How has it been? Everything you hoped it would be?

Mr. Savitt: It's been great. It really has worked out well. Things are going very well. It's been a lot of fun. And no complaints. We wish the economy was stronger, but we've fared very well, and, in fact, better than anticipated.

When you formed, the economy was already in trouble....

How Paterson Can Become a Force

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

This morning, in his first public remarks since ending his campaign for governor last week, Governor David Paterson said a combination of budget forces had created "a situation when a day of reckoning would eventually come, and that day of reckoning is here."

That's certainly true--given the state's enormous budget deficit--and, of course, there's another reckoning involving that investigation by the attorney general.

But former City Councilman Ken Fisher, who moderated the discussion (along with Observer...

Crime Waves Throwing the Book at the Hulking Murderer

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

After a rough February, March is off to a similar start: there are machetes in The New York Times. Police shot and wounded a machete-wielding man in Brooklyn after receiving reports of "an emotionally disturbed person," reports The Times.

The Daily News describes this person's weapon merely as "a knife."

Elsewhere: a Queens man strangles a would-be car thief, toommates fly into murderous rages, cops use crazy slang, and a convicted art-forger faces a law suit...

Real Estate A Local Business with Global Concerns Panel at NYUs Schack Institute February 23

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

...

Judge Approves Land Seizures for Atlantic Yards

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The property seizures necessary for a new Brooklyn Nets basketball arena have been approved by a judge, clearing a path for a groundbreaking on the $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project.

The action, for which the Brooklyn judge granted a state petition seeking the title of properties within the project's footprint, is one of the final few legal challenges opponents of the project and holdout landowners had thrown at the state in an attempt to block,...

Minorities In the Tea Party?

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Tomorrow, Tea Partiers in North Texas plan to celebrate the first anniversary of their anti-government movement with an anti-taxes-for-social-programs rally in front of the Dallas city hall. The scheduled speakers of the event are—surprise!—young-ish people of color. Which is likely a calculated move to counter statistics that suggest this fringe conservative movement is primarily comprised of middle-aged white rural males. To further prove the group's diversity, the Dallas Tea Party (DTP) released a short ad made in the same vein as the Demon Sheep trailer—only (sadly) without the Demon Sheep—attacking MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, who recently reported on the movement's monoculture. In the ad, Olbermann asks, "Surely there must be blacks who think they are being bled by taxation? Surely there must be Hispanics who think we should have let the auto industry fail?" His queries are spliced with rebuttals ("Here we are!") from black and Latino DTP members. DTP leader Katrina Pierson makes several appearances in the ad and was also featured on Fox Business Channel this week. After receiving praise from the Fox host for being a Latina from a single-parent home and for going to college without government assistance (totally false), Pierson made the usual conservative resources-over-government-handouts statement:

I'm a firm believer that all it takes is one positive adult influence in a child's life to make that difference. If no one had ever told me I could go to college, I probably never would. But that's the kind of thing that Americans need. They need tools and resources and encouragement. Not handouts or welfare or the redistribution of wealth.

Pierson never goes into detail on what type of resources (or social safety-net programs) are needed to help Americans during the Great Recession, or where these resources should come from. Regardless, it's pretty unlikely that more minorities will join a movement that opposes a public health option, stimulus aid, and Good Taxes—like the ones that enabled people like Pierson to attend a government-funded community college.

Follow Titania Kumeh on Twitter.

5 Comments | Post Comment

Texas Drinking Problem Gets Worse

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Yesterday, Mother Jones aroused a lot of online attention with my story, "Cop Walks Into a Bar And...Arrests You. For Having a Drink." It details how Texas police officers can use a broad public-intoxication law to round up—and sometimes beat—its usual suspects: gays, Latinos, African-Americans, and anybody who looks like a potential illegal immigrant. You don't have to be drinking to be arrested—you just have to be in the wrong place, with the wrong face.

You'd think that's the sort of story that would put cops on the defensive—at least make them a little more circumspect about wielding their authority and their brawn.

Or not. Not according to today's news from the Lone Star State.

My story began with the violent police raid of a Fort Worth gay bar, the Rainbow Lounge, on the 40th anniversary of New York's Stonewall Inn riot. (This, after the police officers had already shaken down two "Hispanic bars" that night, according to one of the cops.) The Rainbow Lounge incident yielded a couple of public-intoxication arrests—and numerous injuries to patrons, including at least one cracked head. Public outrage over the police's extralegal, extra-hamfisted tactics extended way beyond the area's gays and lesbians—at one point, federal authorities were rumored to be investigating the officers' conduct. The Fort Worth Police Department initially took a conciliatory stance: apologizing, investigating, then hiring a liaison for the LGBT community. The state's liquor agency—whose cops participated in the raid—even offered to pay the medical bills of bar patron Chad Gibson, who ended up with a blood clot behind his eye. But today, news comes that despite all the good karma being ~~built~~ rebuilt, local police still want to prosecute two bar patrons for public intoxication—including the seriously injured Gibson.

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Fiore Cartoon Capitalism Clapper

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Sometimes the government is the problem. Sometimes it's the solution. Sometimes banks are so big, we think they can't possibly fail. Sometimes they're so big, they do fail.

Sometimes America embraces a free market. And sometimes...it doesn't.

Watch Mark Fiore take on our capitalist fickleness below:

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Climate Skeptic Sponsored by Fossil Fuel Interests

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Get the latest on environmental politics on Blue Marble:

Cape Wind Site Not So Sacred After All?

Dirty energy interests (with help from wealthy land owners, including the Kennedys) have been leading a campaign for nearly a decade to block Cape Wind, the country’s first offshore wind farm in the Nantucket Sound. They have been successful in delaying the project, but their real hope for conquering the wind farm once and for all didn’t come until last year, when two local Native American tribes requested that the sound be declared off-limits for development because it would interfere with their spiritual practice. But one tribe member says that argument is a complete fabrication.

Most Credible Climate Skeptic Not So Credible After All

Patrick Michaels has more credibility than your average climate skeptic, and is often featured prominently in the press to offer an alternative view on global warming. But what Michaels doesn't mention in his frequent media appearances is his history of receiving money from big polluters.

EPA Block Bad for Auto Industry, Says DOT

Efforts underway to block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse-gas emissions would "profoundly" harm the already-ailing auto industry, warned the Department of Transportation in a letter.

McCain Goes Off the Nuclear Deep End

Obama’s $54.5 billion plan to restart the nuclear industry apparently isn’t good enough for John McCain.

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